Chapter Text
Tim, Twelve
Tim frowns at his bulging backpack and the zipper that is inches away from closing. It might be easier if he kept a few more changes of clothes in the previously-empty locker that he's slowly claiming as his own. Maybe he'll ask Alfred if he can use the Batcave's laundry machines for non-uniform clothes sometimes instead of bringing two weeks’ worth of dirty laundry back home. If he can just get a few more pairs of socks to fit somewhere, he'll be able to get it all in one trip without having to carry an extra bag while skateboarding.
The socks will probably stay in the side pocket meant for the water bottle, especially since he isn't planning to do any tricks on the way home. All his neighbors think that his recent string of bruises is from skateboarding. He's lucky that his teachers at school buy that, too, because he can hardly keep a secret identity if he has to worry every time some inconsiderate opponent decides to hit Robin in the face even though Tim’s math teacher gets a little suspicious when bruises look more like fist than a skate park rail.
Tim has to sit on the backpack to close it but he manages to get everything but the socks inside. He should have brought his laundry home last week but he'd been too sleepy after a big case. It was one of the first nights he went out as Robin without making a mistake big enough for Bruce to run a debrief after. Bruce had smiled, instead, and told him that he'd done well. Tim had practically floated home on the approval and fallen into bed.
The towels go into the Batcave's laundry. Everything from the uniform does, too, but Tim brings the rest home. Mrs. Mac does laundry on Wednesdays and she had not been impressed last week when Tim couldn't explain why most of his dirty laundry wasn't in the hamper.
Tim checks the mirror. Bruce always pulls hits when he demonstrates how to defend against different attacks. The guy working for Two-Face hadn't been nearly so considerate and Tim hadn't been able to duck quickly enough. The blow to the jaw had stung and the bruise had almost bad enough to start putting his lessons on hiding bruises to good use. The bruise happened on a Friday night, at least, so now it looks more like a smudge than a couple knuckles. He shouldn’t have any trouble in math class this week.
Tim uses the smaller of the Cave's two bathrooms. It's easier to reach everything and leaving more space for Bruce seems polite. By the time he steps back into the main Cave, Bruce is already sitting at the main computer and looks like he's been working for hours instead of just fifteen minutes.
“See you tomorrow, Bruce!”
Bruce turns away from the monitor. “You have dinner at home, Tim?”
“I'm all set. Mrs. Mac didn't say what she was making today but she did say it was one of my favorites.” With all the work Tim is doing lately, following Bruce and Alfred's recommendations about what to eat has helped a lot. Mrs. Mac smiles every time Tim asks if she could add a little more protein or a lot more vegetables. She's very happy that he's spending more time exercising than playing video games and thankfully she hasn’t asked just what he means by exercising.
“Hm. Have a good night, then, and I'll see you tomorrow. Five o'clock unless you need more time for homework.”
Tim thinks over his class schedule. “Five should be fine. I finished the essay last weekend and I don't have any other big assignments due. Bye, Bruce!”
“Tomorrow, then.”
Tim heads for the elevator. He could take the stairs but he doesn't want to wander all the way through the house when the elevator is right by the secondary garage where Tim keeps his skateboard. He can make the trip home in fifteen or twenty minutes if he's at top speed. Sometimes, if patrol goes on for long enough, he gets to stay overnight and have breakfast before going to school. It doesn't happen often but Tim still has a guest room of his own and keeps a school uniform and a few other outfits upstairs just in case Alfred has time to drop him off at school.
Tim waves to Bruce's back as the elevator doors close. He's not sure if Bruce notices but it seems polite to guess that Batman always knows.
Tim, Seventeen
Tim does his best to not look wistfully at the elevator that leads straight to the butler pantry and the tiny garage that no one uses. He probably has a skateboard there, still. Even if he doesn't, the big empty house he and his dad chose is right next door. It wouldn't matter if Tim has to sleep on the couch because the beds and their bare mattresses are probably packed away. It would save him from dinner with Bruce's two sons that still don't like him. When anyone else is in town, it isn't so bad, but Tim won't have anyone to save the dinner from awkward silence. No one will admit they'd have a better dinner if Tim stayed out of it. Damian and Jason are always more tense when Tim is there but Bruce doesn’t like the obvious solution of Tim keeping his distance. Bruce wants them to all play happy family as if Tim has ever had that work out well.
Tim looks over his report carefully. Sometimes, Jason heads down to the Batcave after dinner. Jason has an eagle eye for typos and doesn't care if Bruce can hear him when Jason points them out. If Tim asks, Barbara and Dick and Bruce will probably all say that Jason is trying to be helpful. They might even be right. Jason doesn't look hostile when he points out another bit of accidentally ambiguous phrasing in Tim's reports but it's hard for Tim to trust Jason's neutral expression. It’s harder to admit that one apology doesn’t make it easy for Tim to accept any criticism from Jason.
They've moved past the time Jason attacked him in Titans Tower and the time Jason cut his throat and the time Jason stabbed him in the chest with a batarang. Jason apologized months ago and Tim accepted. The apology didn't come with an explanation for why the world changed while Tim was out of the country chasing after rumors and the hope he was right about Bruce. Tim doesn't know if learning more about why Jason changed will help. Jason hasn't tried to attack him since but doesn't seem to like having Tim around, either. Jason looks more relaxed when he doesn't know that Tim is around.
Damian is just as hard to understand. Tim almost misses the attempted assaults. Only the first few attacks had felt like Damian actually wanted him dead. No amount of ignoring Damian had worked and retaliating in kind only got Tim in trouble. After Tim's misadventures with the League of Assassins, he thought he might finally understand the sneak attacks, but since Tim got back home Damian has been ignoring him. If Tim could ever get the chance to talk to him one-on-one, he might ask why, but Damian is avoiding him and there's no use trying to talk to him with Jason around to be protective over a brother that he actually likes.
Tim gives up on the report. Jason and Bruce can find any remaining mistakes together and have something to talk about. If Tim manages to sneak up through the elevator, he has a decent chance of making it out through the garage. Usually, failing at exfiltration can mean capture or injury or death. This time, failure would condemn him to an awkward dinner.
Behind him, Bruce is again working on something he'd brought home from a Justice League mission. Tim isn't sure what the hourglass does or why Batman is the one working on the probably-magical artifact. He does know that Red Hood showed up on the mission, possibly to confuse most of the Justice League, possibly because he and Bruce were already patrolling together with their comms looped into a private channel. Clark knew about Jason's resurrection already and Superman's calm approval had kept anyone else from objecting when Red Hood tagged along with Batman. By the end of the mission, Red Hood had clearance as a probationary member of the Justice League. Whatever is interesting about the hourglass, Jason and Bruce have been working on it together as a shared project, and Tim hasn't looked through Bruce's reports yet. He isn't sure if he wants to make it obvious that he feels left out all over again. He’s heard more about the hourglass from Kon than he has from Bruce.
Bruce has half of an archaeology dig spread out on the table and Tim wants to ask about his system. His parents had always made archaeology sound fascinating and he had to pick up a few tricks while he was looking for proof that Bruce was still alive. Even better, the Justice League thinks the hourglass is related to time travel, and Tim has so many questions that Bruce might answer if they’re about the case as much as they are about Bruce’s trip through time.
Tim could interrupt Bruce to talk about something else. He could ask for a minute to talk about patrol last week. He could ask for more time, if he wants, because Tim was right and Bruce isn't dead and his dad is home.
Bruce doesn’t look up from his work. It’s no surprise. Tim knows how much attention it takes to deal with cuneiform.
Tim will take his chance eventually but he's tired and Bruce is busy. Dick is busy being Nightwing again and making up for time lost being Batman. Tim didn't ask why Dick needed both Cass and Stephanie for an unspecified mission in Blüdhaven. Tim was mature enough to not ask why Dick hadn't invited him, too. That might be all the maturity Tim can manage for the week. He's even trying to discreetly dodge an awkward dinner instead of saying something rude on his way out.
Worse, it's Meatless Monday dinner, where Jason and Damian both help Alfred with a new vegetarian recipe. Jason and Damian and Alfred have a routine and they've probably spent an hour or two chatting and working together. That conversation will stop when someone notices Tim. Damian’s rare relaxation will fail by the time dinner is on the table if Tim is there. By the end of dinner, everyone's annoyed again, and even though they would have a happier family time without Tim there they keep insisting that he should stay for dinner if he bothers to stop by the Cave to use a couple pieces of equipment that are hard to replicate.
Tim heads for the elevator. If he takes the stairs up through the doorway behind the grandfather clock, he'll walk past the kitchen and hear Jason joke with Alfred or Damian in a way that doesn't cut to the bone.
The elevator is better. It's loud enough to be noticeable if they are having a quiet moment. If it's quiet enough for them to hear the elevator, Tim won’t accidentally interrupt a conversation or overhear Damian actually sound like a kid. The last time that Tim heard Damian sound vulnerable, Dick and Jason had both been annoyed when Damian clammed up the second he realized that Tim was there. The silence hadn’t lasted, though, and Damian had resorted to insults before Tim could decide if he wanted to apologize. Damian's just a child and that's enough to excuse any amount of behavior, he knows, but Tim hadn't had nearly so much leeway when he was twelve. He would have been kicked straight out of the house for a comment half that rude. Maybe it's a little different when kicking Damian out would send him right back to Nanda Parbat. Tim would have gone back to his perfectly comfortable house where no one would have tried to make him some kind of assassin overlord.
Tim waits for the elevator impatiently. Running won't solve the problem and it would mean a lot to Bruce if he stayed. Maybe dinner won't be so bad. Maybe Tim will finally unlock some secret combination of words that could get Jason or Damian to acknowledge him as a brother, if only because they share the same father. Maybe dinner will be awkward and silent and Bruce will look at them like he doesn't know what to do.
He could stay for dinner. He could run. He could just admit that he's an emancipated minor now and doesn't need to cling to Bruce anymore.
He isn't even planning to patrol tonight. Unless there's a crisis, he'll have time to go to bed early or check over his equipment or think about maybe getting a G.E.D. so Alfred will stop worrying about Tim's education. Alfred hasn't mentioned it since Tim came home but it doesn't feel better. Alfred used to openly fuss that Tim needed to finish his education. Maybe he's holding back to avoid giving Jason and Damian some more ammunition. Tim hasn't had much one-on-one time with Alfred lately. Tim has his own apartment and his own civilian job and uses his Nest as the usual base for his patrols as Red Robin. Alfred is still managing the Batcave and the Manor and Bruce Wayne's social life in addition to taking care of Damian and helping Jason workshop different ideas about legally coming back to life.
Jason and Damian won't have to worry about putting on a show if Tim sneaks out the back door. Bruce won't have the disappointed furrow in his brow when he remembers that Tim and Jason and Damian still do not get along. Alfred might be a little disappointed but Tim has been disappointing him for a while.
If Tim spends enough time with Alfred, he might ask how long it took to put together a new Robin suit tailored to Damian. Damian might have made sketches but Alfred would have put it together. Tim doesn't know if the unannounced changeover was because Tim was overstaying his time as Robin or because Alfred thought Damian needed the suit.
Dick had meant to talk to Tim before Damian took over as Robin. Tim had talked about losing Robin with Dick the last time Tim had made a trip to Blüdhaven. For once, it hadn't even been about a case. Dick invited Tim over and they did tourist things for two days because there are a few pretty areas in Blüdhaven that Nightwing doesn’t see often. Dick knows that Tim hadn't brought up everything, not yet, but they'd planned to have a civilian-only visit again soon. That was before Dick needed Stephanie and Cass for some case of his but hadn't invited Tim. Tim keeps telling himself there were practical reasons but it gets harder to believe when they all left him without someone to keep dinner from awkward silence.
Taking a night or two to himself will help. Maybe he can ask Alfred for advice after researching a few options for a G.E.D. because there is no way he's going back to high school. Not even for Alfred's approval.
From the elevator, Tim can see Bruce's silhouette as he hunches over the hourglass. He can't be sure what Bruce is thinking. Tim might never be brave enough to ask if it would have been better to try tracking down Superman instead of letting a twelve-year-old try to save Batman. He doesn't know why the Justice League wasn't there in Gotham coaxing Batman to stand down and get some help. Maybe they were working on some longer campaign Tim averted. Maybe, if Superman had been in town, someone would have heard Jason when he came back to life and he wouldn't have to deal with the trauma of digging himself out of his own grave and then a Lazarus Pit. Tim read Bruce's file on Jason months ago. After Jason had apologized, Tim had thought that knowing a little more could help smooth things over. So far, it hasn’t helped, but it felt less invasive to learn more about Jason when there was a chance Jason might want to talk to Tim about what had happened.
They'll probably never know if Jason would have been in better shape if he hadn't had to dig his way out of his own coffin. If Tim had been brave enough to go to Jason's grave and confront all his fears about not being good enough instead of whispering to the memorial that Jason hated, maybe...
Tim's shoulders slump as the doors finally start to close. It's too late to wonder how different things could have been. It's not like he'll get another chance but sometimes he can’t help but wonder.
He'd wanted to help, all those years ago, but he might have been able to help more if he'd planted himself at Jason's grave. Bruce had needed his son more than Batman had needed Robin.
The elevator doors shut and a flare of light startles Tim into dropping into a combat stance that can't do a thing against the sudden brightness.
The elevator doors close. A moment later, a bright flash of light leaves Tim flinching back, covering his eyes against a light so bright that the dimly lit elevator seems pitch black.
This might be a good time to have Bruce's attention. Whatever the light show is about, it is following Tim as the elevator ascends, and Tim has a feeling he should have asked a few more questions about just what Bruce was working on.
The elevator doors open. After the repeated flashes of light, Tim can't see anything, but when he slides his foot forward he's pretty sure that he can feel the house's parquet flooring through the sole of his tennis shoe. He takes a few cautious steps forward to get out of the elevator. He can take a few minutes to see if he gets better before bothering Bruce or trying to find Alfred when he can't even see.
The elevator doors open. Tim can't see anything but he's dealt with worse. He keeps moving, staying low to the ground out of habit alone, and after a few seconds his vision starts improving. He's in Wayne Manor, probably, but the art in the hallway is wrong. Damian's series of watercolor flowers lines this hallway, now, and Tim hasn't seen the faded old landscapes in years.
Tim rubs the heel of his hand against his eyes until his vision starts to clear. He's in Wayne Manor, still, but Alfred must have changed things around again. Tim likes the colorful flowers on the walls. They’re more cheerful than the previous landscapes. It might be nice to have something to say to Alfred other than an occasional thank-you. Alfred is intimidating and Tim knows that he's mostly Robin because Alfred took a chance on him. Tim's pretty sure that Alfred only took that chance because Bruce needed help but the reasons don't matter. Batman needs help. Even if everything stops when Batman gets better, Tim got to patrol as Robin eleven times. Even if it never happens again, even if he never gets to tell anyone, it's one of the coolest things he's ever done.
The kitchen is unusually quiet, the pictures are wrong, and the house echoes in a strange way he hasn't heard in a while. The calendar on the wall confirms Tim's guess for the date. Tim makes it to the garage without seeing anyone and recognizes the skateboard tucked against the wall. He'd broken that one just after his thirteenth birthday and nearly broken his wrist in the process.
Tim doesn't know what Bruce was working on but he recognizes that skateboard and the pictures and the date. He knows what he was thinking about with an artifact possibly related to time travel in the Batcave before possibly displacing himself in time. If he tries to head next door, he's pretty sure he'll find out that he's trespassing in someone else's house. He picks up his skateboard and heads for the once-familiar path toward his old house.
Tim glances at the elevator but decides it isn't worth heading back down to the Batcave just because he saw a bright light and doesn't recognize a couple pictures. He knows that bothering Bruce too much or too often will be the end of his time as Robin and that Batman still needs Robin. If something big happened, Bruce would have noticed.
Tim's typically-silent journey to the garage doesn't stay silent.
“Drake!”
Tim freezes. The voice is unfamiliar but that tone rarely bodes well for him.
“Honestly, Drake, you'd think that you...”
Tim turns, slowly, and finds a boy about his size.
The stranger does not look happy to see him. “I will tell Father that the artifact is not as stable as the Justice League believed. Are you at least Timothy Drake?” the boy demands.
Tim doesn't think lying will help, not when the stranger knows his name already, so he nods.
The boy scowls. “Todd!” The sharp command carries through the corridor. “I require assistance.”
“What's the problem?” a voice calls from the kitchen. “If he really doesn't want to stay, let him get out of here.”
Tim's puzzled theories about time travel seem more likely when a second stranger heads out of the kitchen, brushing flour off his hands and onto a black apron with COOKING TAKES BRAAAAAAINS printed in bright green letters over a scribbled bright pink brain.
“Huh,” says the man in the apron.
Tim blinks up at the stranger. The man is taller and broader and has a vividly white streak in his black hair but he looks a lot like Jason Todd. Maybe Tim should have tried to go right back downstairs after noticing the flash of light and the signs that he was in a different place. Making it back to the Wayne Manor he recognizes will be hard enough. Hiding this from Bruce might be impossible but the alternative isn't much better. Tim doesn't want to tell his Batman that there is a world where Jason Todd lived.